For many elderly individuals and other individuals with physical disadvantages, the propensity to fall and the risk of injury therefrom increases over time. According to U.S. health statistics, one out of three adults age 65 and older falls each year, and these fall events are a leading cause of injury and death for this age segment. Falls are the most common cause of injuries and hospital admissions for trauma such as lacerations, hip fractures, and head trauma. Serious injury due to a fall may prevent a person from immediately contacting medical personnel or a caregiver, thereby exacerbating the injuries suffered.
In response to this problem, personal emergency reporting systems have evolved. Conventional personal emergency reporting systems sometimes take the form of an apparatus that a user keeps on his or her person and that includes a help button or switch that is pressed to alert others of a fall that requires help. The device may be worn on the wrist, attached to a belt, or carried in a pocket or purse, for example. However, depending on the severity of the injury, the user may not be able to reach and/or push the help button. For this reason, personal emergency reporting systems (PERS) with embedded fall detection technology in their transmitters have evolved.
A PERS device with embedded fall detection technology is won by a user and has a fall detection sensor that incorporates an accelerometer to record input data that is then processed to determine the probability of a fall event. Upon determining based on the sensor data that a fall event has likely occurred, the PERS device automatically initiates and transmits an alarm event to a predetermined central monitoring station or call center, typically via a PERS home console.
False positive fall detections are a significant problem with such systems. To help avoid false detections, the best location for the detection apparatus is on the user's torso, such as by being attached to a belt. However, users prefer a detection apparatus that is configured as a necklace. In conventional necklace-type detection systems, the fall detection apparatus, along with a battery, is embedded within a pendant that is fastened to a lanyard (necklace) and worn around the neck. As many fall detection devices incorporate an accelerometer, a challenge with having a fall detection device is the high probability of a false positive fall detection due to excessive movement or swaying of the pendant while not being worn by the user. For example, the pendant may be taken off and inadvertently hit an object such as a table or chair as the user puts it down. Such an impact may generate a false positive fall detection in a device configured to detect a shock as a fall event.